Dishonored is a game that I've had people pestering me to play for several years, and they'd swear up and down that I'd love it, but then they'd mention stealth, and I was all "Nope, no thanks." THEY DIDN'T MENTION THAT I COULD SPAWN KILLER RATS TO LITERALLY EAT MY ENEMIES. THAT SHIT'S METAL AS FUCK. I'd have been immediately sold if they'd just mentioned that to me.

So in Dishonored, you play as Corvo, the empress's body guard who gets sent on a mission to surrounding cities to enlist aid in dealing with the Rat Plague. You get back from your mission with nothing but bad news, and immediately the empress gets killed. Well shit. Then it turns out there's a conspiracy to use you as a scapegoat in the coup, so you get arrested for her murder. Well double shit. Anyway, then some resistance folks help you break out of prison, and you go on this quest to undermine the conspiracy, rescue the princess, and have her put on the throne as the rightful empress. If you want to be a cool dude, you can use non-lethal methods to subdue your enemies and even your assassination targets. Or you could be a giant dick like me and literally massacre everything with a pulse. The ending I got was pretty dark, and everyone hated me, but I had an impressive trail of bodies in my wake.

So, in terms of gameplay, let's use an analogy to describe it. Imagine if the Thief reboot and Assassin's Creed had a baby except leave out the convoluted bullshit storyline from Assassin's Creed, and leave out the fact that Thief was completely devoid of anything remotely entertaining. That's pretty much Dishonored. You steal shit to get money, you kill as many or as few people as you want, and while it's generally advised you be stealthy, you totally can just sprint in and start shooting people in the dick with a pistol if you really want to. You get a decent array of secondary weapons in addition to your sword - a gun with regular and explosive bullets, a crossbow with regular and sleep darts, grenades, mines, and a small but useful array of magic powers. LIKE SUMMON A FUCKING HORDE OF FLESH EATING RATS, HOW BADASS IS THAT???

If you've not been able to tell yet, I absolutely adored the gameplay in Dishonored. The story was quite good as well. Not a literary masterpiece or anything, but it definitely got me invested in the game and motivated me to take brutal and merciless revenge on my enemies. The one element that was an EXTREME disappoint to me, however, was the voice acting. It was terrible. It wasn't quite early 90s FMV level of terrible acting, but it was pretty damn bad. It reminded me of some of the high school plays I've seen in my life. I was displeased.

One design choice that I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated was how open ended the game was within the levels. Yeah, within each mission, you're restricted to a certain area, but you have almost complete freedom within that area. Want to barge in the front door and fuck shit up? Go for it. Want to sneak in the front by sticking to the shadows? Do your ninja shit. Want to jump from rooftop to rooftop to get in? Fly and be free, brother. Want to use tunnels and sewers to get there? Do it. There are multiple ways to get to every objective, and there are a handful of optional objectives and side quests to complete in the game should you choose to do so. It gave a lot of agency to the player, and that's something I definitely appreciated.

Dishonored is not a perfect game, but it's damn close. The story, while not breathtaking, was quite good and well delivered, even if the voice acting was shit. The visuals, especially in this definitive edition, are good with a nice comic-ish feel akin to the aesthetics in Borderlands. The gameplay is absolutely rock solid, though, and that's where the game absolutely shines. Player choice is put in the front seat as far as how you go about completing your objectives, and you can be as brutal or merciful as you want to be. Dishonored is available on a wide range of both 7th and 8th gen platforms, so whatever you system of choice is, make sure you play this game.

Re: Games Beaten 2017

Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 7:47 pm

by ElkinFencer10

Note - I meant the 2014 reboot of Thief, not the original games that didn't suck giant cocks.

"Nintendo" and "licensed game" don't typically go together. Yet here we have Shigeru Miyamoto's platformer Popeye, originally released in the arcades in 1983. Like Sky Skipper, this one was published by Parker Bros. instead of Coleco or Atari themselves.

At first glance Popeye appears similar to a Donkey Kong title. And while they're certainly a lot alike - both have a single-screen "scaffolding" setting with slightly different "rules" per stage - Popeye's gameplay is wholly unique and much trickier to master.

It works like this. Olive Oyl continuously paces back and forth at the top of each level, occasionally tossing down objects (distinct in the arcade, amorphous blobs on Atari) to be collected. Popeye has to grab them all up to progress to the next stage. All the while he's chased by a relentless Bluto. Popeye can't jump, which takes some getting used to. Bluto, on the other hand, can so standing directly above him is a risky proposition. Projectiles are occasionally fired by Bluto but these can be stopped in mid-air by Popeye's punch attack. There are also other random projectiles that occasionally fire from the edges of the screen (again, these are actual things in the arcade, but just rectangles on Atari). A punch won't take down Bluto, unless Popeye is powered-up with the can of spinach that appears once per level. A spinach punch knocks Bluto out of commision for a few seconds, and he respawns at the bottom of the screen.

One final thing: objects thrown by Olive Oyl cannot rest at the screen's bottom indefinitely. They'll eventually expire, which will cause Popeye to lose one life.

It's a tricky, crafty game that requires a bit of finesse to get through. There's no way to storm through a level, as Popeye has to wait for Olive Oyl to finish chucking shit. Basically, success is granted after one figures out how Bluto's movement and AI works, as Popeye needs to keep him away from himself and the collectibles. I found that the old "run away and quickly change directions" trick brings success a good amount of the time.Now, there is some slight variation in stage mechanics. The first level allows Popeye to loop across the screen - but only at the upper deck of scaffolding. In stage two there are no stairs leading back up if he heads to the bottom platform - instead he must jump on a trampoline that sends him all the way up to the top. The screen also loops, at once specific area near the top. And in the third and final (lol) stage, there's a "slippery" area and several tiny pitfalls.

There's music throughout the game, rare for an Atari title, including the classic Popeye theme. Much appreciated. The graphics on the other hand... ouch. I don't like to pick on Atari visuals, but someone dropped the ball here. As mentioned, all the objects are completely ambiguous. Even worse is the fact that every stage background is stark black, with heavy green or brown platforms. The whole game looks like it takes place during a foggy night. There's absolutely no way to tell that the second stage is supposed to be a cityscape and third is supposed to be a pirate ship.

Despite being rough around the edges, Popeye is pretty damn fun. I appreciate the challenge and tactical savviness required. Ranking the difficulty here, I'd say this is harder than the NES port and easier than the one of C64 (which I have owned for years but have never passed stage three). Among Atari platformers it serves as a worthy entry, so check it out.

Oh, and although there are bunches of different licensed Popeye games, this particular one by Nintendo did receive a sequel on Famicom. Called Popeye no Eigo Asobi it's an edutainment title featuring English vocabulary words. Awesome.

Heard some raving about this on the Podquisition podcast last week, and they really sold it to me. Add that in with how I was able to get it for just over 20 bucks at the local resale store in the middle of last week. HOoooly crap was it worth it. For the record it took me about 40 or 50 hours to get through it on normal mode. I did every main and side mission along with the Zodiac Killer DLC. I also did not play the multiplayer at all, as it didn't interest me (and I also don't have PS plus, but things like getting invaded and bounty hunted are still things even if you don't pay for online (but you can turn them off like I did really easy)).

These GTA-style game has been done so well before that newer entries in this genre live and die by their theme and story telling. Watchdogs 1 had the theme, but fell SO hard on the storytelling part (or so I've been told). The sequel seems to have learned from all the complaints about the first game and really made a quality sequel.

The theme and narrative this time along goes for a much more Saints Row 3-style approach, and it's much to the game's benefit. It never reaches quite that level of 4th wall breaking or insanity, but it's somewhere between Watchdogs 1 and Saints Row 3. I have some minor complaints about the pacing of the story, but that's a potential problem in any game like this. There's also one main character who kiiinda feels like they were thrown in near the end of the writing phase given all of the story content they just don't feature in for some reason, but that's a minor complaint. The story itself was really well told, though. There's also A LOT of really surprisingly well implemented representation of various minority groups, which I also greatly appreciated. Not enough games seem to have that now a days. The dialogue is so nerdy and silly. It gave me a very Saints Row feel in that regard. There were many a goof that had me in stitches laughing. The characters are all very vibrant, unique, and funny. MUCH more so when compared to the boring pile of tar that was the first game's protagonist.

The gameplay is somewhere between GTA and Infamous, which I suuuper dug. There are no control points around the city like in Saints Row or Infamous, but instead missions you can do to progress the story (or just side stories) a lot like GTA. However, like Infamous, as you do things you can earn XP to level up and gain skill points to put into a tech tree. You can even find these level-up points scattered around the map in places a lot like Infamous. Honestly I had tons of fun in the 20-ish hours I spent JUST wandering around the map looking for goodies. San Francisco looks amazing, and it was just so much fun to drive around and see all the sights.

The gameplay is very GTA V-ish, but a bit closer to Saints Row. Markus also feels like he controls a lot tighter than the "more realistic" movement of the GTA V characters. You can climb up buildings a lot, but you're no Cole Mcgrath: Your climbing skils are much more like that of a normal fairly fit guy. It's got gunplay like Saints Row/GTA but your hacking powers feel a lot like Infamous, which is why I use those two games as a comparison to this one so often. You also have a little flying drone and a jumping RC car-thing which you can use for doing anything from distracting enemies, to setting up traps to stealthing past enemies. I played the game mostly stealthily, as it felt more appropriate for the narrative (and my play-style because I don't aim well on a controller), but there are a time or two where you're forced to take things very head-on with action. Using the RC-car and drone in tandem to set up traps and to activate cars and bombs to fuck with people just never got old though. It was always such a refreshing puzzle in a new location: It's a really well crafted stealth game in that regard, though it can be played actiony as well. I did a lot of the non-story repeatable missions (which you can do online co-op in but I did solo) just because I loved that stuff so much.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. If you like GTA-style open-world-in-a-city games, you will definitely like Watchdogs 2. Perhaps you won't adore it as much as I did, but this is definitely one of my favorite games I've played in this genre, right up there with Saints Row 3 and Infamous 2.

Pretty solid. I still dig the squad-based tactics of this game. I've started Retribution and I'm not sure how I feel about it so far. I think there's something I don't enjoy as much with a return to some of the mechanics of how you produce units. We'll see as it goes on.

Re: Games Beaten 2017

Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 11:44 am

by prfsnl_gmr

I really need to update this thread...I have actually beaten several games recently, but I don't want to update until I have completed BOTW. (I just gotta find all those shrines!)

Re: Games Beaten 2017

Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 11:53 am

by BoneSnapDeez

prfsnl_gmr wrote:I really need to update this thread...I have actually beaten several games recently, but I don't want to update until I have completed BOTW. (I just gotta find all those shrines!)

I thought you hadn't played any video games for months. I was getting concerned.

Re: Games Beaten 2017

Posted: Thu May 11, 2017 12:16 pm

by prfsnl_gmr

I've actually been playing a ton lately. Getting all of the shrines in BOTW just takes a really long time...

I have beaten Jump Trials Supreme (3DS), Ace Mathician (DS), Color Commando (DS), and 3D Fantasy Zone II W (3DS). (The last one is insanely good, BTW.) I also got through the 3D version of the SMS Fantasy Zone port this morning, but I ended up relying on a save right before the boss rush. (I'm glad I did, because the last two attacks from the last boss are a bit unfair.) I will probably 1CC it before turning back to 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa Opa Bros. (i.e., the enhanced 3DS port of the arcade game) and the 3DS port of the SMS version of Fantasy Zone II. After that, I will probably try to tackle Super Fantasy Zone and, if I came find a copy, Game Gear Fantasy Zone. (I might also try out the secret Fantasy Zone game in Arnold Palmer Golf.)

I also put a lot of time into Warlock's Tower (iOS) and PicDun (DS), but they are both on hold. (Warlock's Tower is awesome, but the final levels are too much for my meager intellect. PicDun is just too long, and it wore out its welcome.)

So yeah, Mighty No. 9. It's... okay. There are good and bad points, but the bad is really bad.

The good: Dashing is actually a lot of fun! The absorption mechanic is one I thought I would hate, but not actually. It's actually a bit of a rush to see how efficiently you can weaken an enemy, and dash in to absorb it. You don't have to do this, but it's usually advantageous to do so.

Also, infinite air dashes are fun.

Some of the stages are pretty fun, too. Mostly the ones that don't have a ton of spike traps, which we'll get to shortly.

The bad: Spike traps. Oh, the spike traps. Several stages have them, and they have really big hit boxes. Plus, you have a lot of knockback, and no window of invincibility to get off of them, you just die. Furthermore, there are some ridiculous spots where you're required to precision air-dash through them. It's not very fun, quite frankly. Worse than that, there are several troll-ish areas where the screen doesn't show you what's below, and SURPRISE! Spike trap! The first stage I picked had several of these, plus several insta-death sequences, one of which I couldn't figure out how to pass originally because the game does such a poor job of explaining its mechanics. Long story short, you have to do an absorption on a nearby enemy, which gives your shots the ability to shoot through walls, letting you clear out the explosive barrels. You might notice this while playing eventually, but probably not right off the bat. It's bad design.

There are also quite a few spots where you are forced to take damage. It's also terrible design. And a few troll deaths like the last elevator that drops out from underneath you.

Boss weaknesses are spoiled for you before you even enter the stage. If you have a weakness weapon, there's an "Advice" tab that appears, with a message from one of the defeated Mighty Numbers. They'll also appear in a segment during the stage to help you out. Funny thing is, though, often the boss weapon is rather ineffectual compared to your standard shot, so... eh.

Graphically, the game looks like a 3DS game. It's very sparse, and could have been a lot better. I'm not graphics snob, but it doesn't look much better than the average indie game. Sound design is... okay. Some tunes that recalled Mega Man, some forgettable, some iffy voice acting and some that's okay. About what I expected, although I didn't think the game needed voice acting at all.

All in all, it was worth the $10 I dropped on it. Definitely not worth the original retail price, though. This game really suffered from sky-high expectations, and it bombed out not from being awful, but being extremely uneven and not meeting those expectations.